Types of Fracture
by SilverLiningsWeighDownMyCloud
Summary: Having had a child with OI, I know that there are four main types of fractures. And isn't it strange that they seem to have occured in our lives as well as Willow's body? Four drabbles, various points of view, "T" for safety. COMPLETE!
1. Open

**Types of Fracture – Chapter One (Charlotte POV)**

_Open Fracture: Bone is exposed at the surface where it breaks the skin. The casualty may suffer bleeding and shock. Infection is a risk. Aim to prevent blood loss, movement and infection at the site of the injury._

Looking back, I guess I could say that the lawsuit was the beginning of a particularly gruesome open fracture. It was a heavy blow to all of our lives, one that smashed our secrets and relationships until they burst through our protective skins for the world to see. It allowed unwelcome infections to course into our very beings, and also for the things we needed to survive to seep out until they could not be replaced.

Various illnesses of differing severity entered the wound: the feeling of being shunned by those who would support us any other time; a looming threat of a divorce that would open the terrible wound further; new enemies, words of hatred, a fear that you no longer felt loved when that was all we wanted from the suit, all of these penetrated our formerly safe and secure lives. And while this happened, the things we loved and needed flowed out of the gaping, ragged hole: the love between Sean and I; my friendship with Piper, and Amelia's with Emma; reputations, money, security, belonging… you.

Like your breaks, this almighty fracture could have been healed, if we were quick enough. We could have bandaged ourselves up again, placed ourselves into a cast that, while uncomfortable to start with, would eventually help everything to go back to normal. But we instead chose to bleed, to limp away pretending everything was okay, to clutch our bloodstained hands to the wound as if that could really make things better. This instead let the blood flow and the infection set in, through gaps and cracks in our lives that we had never even noticed before. If you don't treat a break, it can only ever get worse.

Perhaps, if we had made an attempt to heal the fracture, you wouldn't have bled out of our lives.

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**A/N:** Well, there you go. The start of my first Handle With Care fic. There will be four chapters/drabbles to this, probably in a different point of view each time. The text in the beginning is taken (but slightly edited) from the Dorling Kindersley First Aid Manual, 9th Edition.


	2. Closed

**Types of Fracture – Chapter Two (Amelia POV)**

_Closed Fracture: The skin is not broken, although the bone ends may damage nearby tissues and blood vessels. Internal bleeding is a risk._

It doesn't matter if you think your fracture is secret. It can still hurt those around you.

When I started cutting, that's what it was: a glorious secret which, although it could sometimes cause me sickening pain, could only ever hurt me. Or so I thought.

Walking in on you and seeing all that blood, I realised that somehow, the fracture I had tried to keep closed within me had still affected you. You were bleeding all too literally, and it was my fault. And then Dad found out: he found the hidden stash of my stolen goods; the cause of the fierce acidity that had wrecked the plumbing in our house; the ladders of scars on my arms. And before I knew it, he was bleeding too. Then, all he had to do was tell Mom, which by God he did, and this supposedly safe and hidden fracture was tearing at all of our lifes.

But I guess, as usual, I'm completely focused on myself. Or so my parents said when they found out. In fact, I bet that everybody has their own problems – their own breaks which they think are bandaged and contained. I bet that's how my parents started arguing. My mother thought that her stupid lawsuit would only hurt her in the worst case scenario, but it hurt everybody she'd ever known and loved. She likes to compare it to an open fracture, one that will quite obviously damage so many people. I disagree. She never suspected a thing.

So, the moral of that story? Fractures are never completely safe and stable. Even when it seems like everything will stay in its place, like you can only ever hurt yourself, it's all one big cruel deception.

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A/N: The second drabble is complete! This one was a lot harder to match with a situation, but I figured it out after I'd flicked through the book again.


	3. Unstable

**Types of Fracture – Chapter Three (Sean POV)**

_Unstable Fracture: In this fracture, the broken bone ends can easily be displaced by movement or muscle contraction. The injured limb should be immobilised immediately to avoid further damage._

I think it's over. Possibly.

I've been looking over the last few months constantly. Not just thinking about you – Charlotte does that enough for a world of mourners – but thinking of us. Charlotte and I, and how we almost tore our entire family apart over one stupid lawsuit which, all things considered, shouldn't have ever crossed our mind. But it's too late for turning back now.

I still try. I remember that day near the line of traffic, how my face burned with pain from her slaps and embarrassment from the pitying looks of the workers. How I just stood there, my heart perfectly intact because I didn't want to let Charlotte get to me. I can't help wondering how I could have done things differently. This insecurity carries on, nagging and pinching at me with every step I take as I retrace my path. Sometimes the pain is dull: that feeling when I make you happy and everything could be normal. However, a lot of the time it decides to scream in my face as the bones holding me together suddenly slip. Memories speed by: the whites of your eyes turning a sickening blue, your alarming jolts as the morphine did its work, that kiss with Piper, my reconciliation with Charlotte…

But I always come back to you, even when I try not to. I always come back to the moment I pulled your frozen body out from under the ice and began to desperately recall the first aid training I'd had. The moment when Charlotte hung onto my sleeve, screeching and wailing, ordering that I bring our daughter back _right now_, even though we both knew nothing could be done. The time that passed afterwards also hurts particularly badly. The emptiness in Charlotte's eyes, the stubborn way she refused to even open the curtains in the morning, the lacklustre way she walked around the house. Amelia's paintings, often subtly disguised portraits of you, filling our walls with memories that we can't avoid.

We seem to be holding together. But we're all fragile, possibly more so than you ever were. Perhaps it will just take one second, one movement in what appears to be the right direction, one ill-judged situation where the memories come back, and we all break into pieces that can't ever be mended.

Maybe that's what Charlotte was doing in the aftermath of your death. She was immobilised, immobilising us along with herself.

Holding our broken lives together.

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**A/N: **Just one more drabble left! I wasn't going to update this for a while, but it just so happens that my other story is going quite slowly, and the idea for this chapter just came to me. So, feedback appreciated, as always.


	4. Stable

**Types of Fracture – Chapter 4 (Willow POV)**

_Stable Fracture: Although the bone is fractured, the ends of the injury remain in place. The risk of bleeding or further damage is minimal. In some cases, the casualty may not be aware of the fracture._

Stable fractures are the strangest things. I've had them before. Often, they're the type I get when I roll over too fast in my sleep, or step down on the pavement a bit too hard. They hurt, that's for sure, but it's nothing compared to the other kinds. Sometimes I don't even notice. Sometimes it's only when my mother sees my eyes flash blue that she realises I've hurt myself.

I don't think that my parents realised what they were doing. They were angry – with the people at Disney World, with Piper, with each other. They were so angry they didn't even notice how everybody else was so sad. They were so busy trying to help me, they didn't see how upset Amelia was, or how much they were hurting Piper, or how much they were ruining everything. Because they didn't notice, they kept walking. They kept going with the lawsuit, with the divorce, with everything, and the break got worse with every step.

And then it finally snapped. Like that moment when you've been walking on a broken leg for weeks, and suddenly you trip on a crack in the ground, you walk into a table, you stamp your foot hard in a temper, and everything breaks. It happens suddenly: one minute you're normal, in a little bit of pain, and then you're lying on the floor, maybe even bleeding, in agony. Just like the pond. It probably had cracks in it, cracks that had been there for days. All it took was me putting my weight on just the wrong part of the ice.

Then you get taken to hospital. A doctor gives you an x-ray, to see what's wrong, puts you in a cast, gives you something for the pain. He signs a note and you go home, and you sit there until you're better, and then you wait for the process to repeat. I've done it enough times to know what happens. But my parents haven't gone through the routine, at least, not as often as I have. They think that everything's over, now that they've had talks and counselling and bereavement groups and special pills that make them happier. They're sitting at home in their casts, healing.

It's a stable fracture. For now, it'll be alright. They can be normal – even happy – again. But one of these days, the process will repeat.

_~ The End ~_

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**A/N:** Well, that's the final drabble done. I hope you enjoyed reading them – even though the subject matter isn't really "enjoyable". As always, feedback is appreciated. Thanks for reading! :D


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